“Sol Prendido” for Borderland Beat
Coahuayana is the municipality where the use of these devices has been reported, which has caused the displacement of its inhabitants.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has updated the arsenal used in its attacks carried out in the state of Michoacán. In addition to weapons for the exclusive use of the Army, it has now implemented chemical explosives that are dropped from drones, which can affect the health of the inhabitants.
This was reported by the Apatzingán Human Security Observatory through a statement shared last week, when members of the CJNG broke into the municipality of Coahuayana, located in the southwest region of the entity.
It was in the early hours of Wednesday, April 3, when it was reported that “more than 100 heavily armed gunmen,” belonging to the CJNG, entered Coahuayana and took the towns of Zapotán, Palos Marías and El Órgano, where they allegedly threw chemical bombs. Due to this, the intervention of local, state and federal authorities was requested.
“Support has been requested to end this terrorist threat that uses high-powered weapons in its attacks and launches explosive bombs of C4 and asphyxiant chemicals with drones,” the Observatory indicated on that occasion.
He added that these chemical explosives supported by drones are used “with the purpose of assaulting the capital of the municipality of Coahuayana”, where the criminal organization led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias ‘El Mencho’, keeps the population incommunicado.
Although the chemical compounds that the “four letter cartel” throws from the drones were not disclosed, reports from the magazine Proceso indicate the substances can cause suffocation, itching and “stinging in the respiratory tract.”
The Observatory reported that after the attacks, “several injuries from firearms and poisoning from chemical explosives” were reported. This, in turn, has caused the displacement of the residents of Zapotán, Palos Marías and El Órgano to other regions of the state.
Faced with this situation and due to the “inaction” of the authorities, the inhabitants of the municipalities of Coahuayana and Aquila chose to block federal highway number 200, between the limits of Michoacán and Colima. “The above is in order to pressure the immediate action of the federal and state governments to stop the wave of reported violence,” the Observatory indicated last weekend.
On Sunday, April 7, it was reported that the mayor of Coahuayana, Gildardo Ruiz Velázquez, supervised the security operations deployed by the Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena), the National Guard and the Civil Guard. In that sense, he assured that order and peace had been restored in the municipality.
Since December 2022, the discovery of chemical explosives used by the CJNG has been reported in Coahuayana. Some of the substances detected are methomyl and carbofuran, considered toxic pesticides, according to Nmás reports.
The chemicals are stored in glass containers that are attached to explosives with electrical cables, which are dropped from drones. The detonation of this type of device has not only generated alert among the population, as it is presumed that it may also have ecological effects.
